GOP establishment trashes Christie for endorsing Trump

Establishment Republicans reacted with a mix of shock, anger and sadness at Chris Christie’s endorsement of Donald Trump on Friday, a stunning move that undermines the GOP mainstream’s efforts to prop up Marco Rubio’s campaign against Trump.

“It’s pretty disgusting why he did it, because he’s opportunistic,” said Tony Fratto of Hamilton Place Strategies, who worked in the George W. Bush White House. “His days of leadership in the Republican Party are done.”

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Fratto also brought up how Christie had previously criticized Trump for his anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant comments. “Did he mean those things, or is he a liar?”

Endorsing Trump was “probably not his brightest political move. It’s right up there with the bridge,” said Stuart Roy, a Tom DeLay alum now with Strategic Action Public Affairs.

“It will definitely be a dark cloud over his seriousness as an elected leader," added Roy, one of whose clients is American Future Fund, which just launched a multimillion-dollar ad campaign attacking Trump for allegedly ripping off students who attended Trump University. "He was a serious federal prosecutor, he was a serious governor, he was a serious presidential candidate and now this is an unserious endorsement."

Ryan Williams, a Mitt Romney alum now at FP1 Strategies, said Christie has gone from presumptive Republican front-runner a few years ago to “kissing Donald Trump’s boots and trying to secure something out of an endorsement.”

Other Washington Republicans were more forgiving of Christie, who had been well-respected in his party for winning over Democratic voters in a blue state.

“I can’t wait to hear Christie sort of reconcile his legitimate Republican-credentialed point of view with Trump,” said Ed Rogers of lobbying firm BGR Group. “I can’t wait to hear it: that Trump is a Republican, that Trump is an authentic conservative, that Trump has the temperament and judgment to be president. Please Christie, tell me that! I might believe it from Christie, because I have such respect for Christie.”

As to why Christie is now backing Trump, Rogers said, “No. 1, his considered judgment of what he thinks is best for America, and No. 2, he wants to be attorney general.”

Chris Christie endorses Donald Trump

He called Christie’s endorsement “a big deal” because now Trump has a surrogate who can be a thoughtful, but combative, advocate for why the Manhattan billionaire should be put in the Oval Office.

Christie “is a shrewd political player and is surveying the scene and deciding that Donald Trump is most likely to be the Republican nominee,” said Steve Schmidt, a former senior adviser to John McCain. Christie endorsing early “creates a permissive environment for other people to jump across the room.”

Charlie Black, another former McCain adviser, argued that endorsements don’t mean much anymore, but said that Christie’s could help Trump win in New Jersey and may help in New York.

“I just don’t think it’s all that significant,” said Black, noting that Jeb Bush had a ton of endorsements but failed to win any state.

Others chalked up Christie’s move to personal ties.

“Trump is the master of letting the air out of the tires of opponents whenever they get momentum or a good news cycle,” said Mark McKinnon, a former media adviser for George W. Bush who is now involved in Showtime’s political show “The Circus.”

It is “no real surprise [that] Chris Christie would be slashing Marco’s tires in this case. Christie has good history with Trump as his New Jersey neighbor, and not such a good history with Marco,” McKinnon said.

Savvy move or not, Christie now has some fence-mending to do, others noted. His campaign had attracted a number of moderate Republican backers like Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.

“There are a lot of Christie supporters right now who I’m sure are feeling pretty burned. … They’re going to have to disavow this move,” said Williams. “This is a new degree of soul-selling for Chris Christie.”

“Chris Christie is only about Chris Christie,” said Fratto, and is just “another person searching for relevance.”